Charitable electrician
By Nikki Misra / Wed Aug 30, 2006, 08:00 PM EDT
BURLINGTON - He runs a business, pays the bills and is the sole breadwinner of a growing family.
Yet when a nonprofit organization asked Chris Sirois, owner of Sirois Electric, Inc. to volunteer installing new electric wiring in a Newton home, he put himself and four employees to the task.
In other words, all of last week Sirois Electric Inc. employees worked for free.
"My electricians and I put in 15 hours each on the first day, Tuesday, August 22," said Sirois. "For the entire week I decided to forgo an income of $10, 000."
The multifamily home along Wiltshire Road in Newton was recently acquired by The Price Center under their Residential Services Program. Operating out of Brookline, Dedham and Newton, The Price Center offers services such as this program to help residents with special needs make a living.
"After high school, people with special needs struggle to fit in society," said Lorraine Kohr. "We are one of the few nonprofits in the Boston area that helps them find a place in their community.
All of last week, The Price Center engaged companies such as Sirois to renovate the Wiltshire Road property so that they can rent it out as apartments to five clients.
All of the manpower work, from construction to refurnishing, including rewiring, was voluntary. They were able to enjoy a free meal, also free, during lunch break.
"Sirois Electric has a good reputation in the area," said Kohr. "I went online to research for contractors before getting in touch with Chris Sirois."
Running Sirois Electric for six years, Chris Sirois shifted his home-based office from Arlington to Burlington three years ago.
"We rented our place in Arlington and were looking to buy a home," said Sirois. "Burlington was one of the few surrounding communities still affordable."
Sirois Electric is currently located on Duncan Road. Chris and his wife, Jennifer Sirois have an 18-month-old with a second baby on the way. Jennifer is a stay-at-home mom.
Shifting to Burlington only helped his business according to Sirois.
"It's a strategically located suburb. We are accessible to customers all along the I-95 and I-93 belt," said Sirois.
For the task in hand on Wiltshire Road, Sirois engaged all of his employees except for one.
"On an average day I have 20 jobs going out, big and small," said Sirois. " I have my van parked outside with my tools of trade and can say that we completed assignments worth a 10-day job in three days."
Sirois helped employee Chris Alicon tie the main electric panel last Wednesday.
Although he enjoys running his small business, he did admit that sharing workload with other companies as such Bains Construction and Landscaping Co. was worthwhile and altruistic.
"I am blessed with enough to be able to afford my time here, "said Sirois. "Life is expensive and one can often feel discouraged, if you do not have what everybody else has."